Deangelo Williams Restructures Contract

Carolina Panthers running back Deangelo Williams has restructured his contract. This move saves the Panthers 3.2 million in cap space this and next season. There has been much speculation so far this off season that Williams would be released. This move settles that question. The Deangelo Williams / Jonathan Stewart Tandem will remain in tact for at least another season.

Williams was entering the third season of a five-year, $43 million contract and was scheduled to earn $5 million in cash with an $8.2 million salary cap number for 2013. Williams will still receive $5 million in cash this year, but the deal has been restructured in a way that reduces his cap number to $5 million, a cap savings of $3.2 million that leaves the team $8.46 million under their adjusted 2013 salary cap number of $126.232 million.Williams was scheduled to earn $4.75 million in non-guaranteed base salary with a $250,000 workout bonus this season. Under the renegotiated contract, Williams' base salary was lowered to $850,000 and his workout bonus reduced to $150,000. The remaining $4 million was converted to a signing bonus, which will be prorated against the Panthers' cap at $800,000 per season through 2017.The real cash savings for the Panthers occurs in 2014 and 2015. Full Article

So with the timing of the panthers reaching out to veterans like Woodson...is a major signing following?

Woodson? Or Greg Hardy extention?!

If it had to be one or the other I'd certainly be hoping for the Hardy extension. However, I'd hope Gettleman has the tact to wait on it for a bit. Taking money from Deangelo and then turning around and giving it to a teammate the next day or the next week would have to sting a little.

This should put us between $8-9mil in cap space (with JA's June 1st money going to the rookies). That could easily be enough to sign Hardy to an extension AND sign a decent vet....assuming Hardy's deal is structured in such a way that the first year or two are lower cap hits.